Trust is Key - Adrienne

Everyone has made some really great points about teaching and action research. So many things to think about on top of things presented in the book. I was afraid to read the book at first because of the horror stories that were sure to unfold. I am glad that I did though. It kind of mirrors my student teaching experience because it was very difficult in the beginning but towards the end I could see how much I had brought to the classroom and how much I was going to miss seeing the students learn. I think that the important thing about being a beginner teacher is being resiliant. There are going to be problems but we have to be willing to keep trying.

When I entered the program I was afraid that I would forget all the ideas I had about how I wanted to teach. I didn't want to be indoctrinated on some idea of teaching that I didn't agree with. I am glad that it hasn't happened. I have been able to take everything that I have learned and experienced and interpret in a way that makes sense for my style of teaching.

I think that many of us are still struggling with issues of classroom management and behaviors. I really want to think on that concept the next few weeks. I want to look at some plans that teachers have written for their classrooms and see what one would look like for mine. I want students to have imput in the methods but I am not sure if I am up for that in the first year.

My action research went pretty well. The students were reluctant to read every day at first but by the end they were asking for more time and they did not want me to take the books with me. (= The results showed an increase in comprehension and engagement but not a huge increase. I think that I would need to do the program for a full year and I would change some of my strategies. One thing that bothered me is that my host teacher did not read when we were supposed to be reading and modeling is very important to an SSR program. I would also like to have more space to display books. I had originally intended to have more discussion of the books they were reading but there was not really time for it. I would like to try and fit that in because I saw some students discussing their books and inspiring each other to read something.

All-in-all I liked my student teaching but it was very difficult. My PDS does not really have good principal leadership and most of the teachers do not respect the administration because they feel like they are not treated as equals. I feel like there are a lot of opportuinties at my PDS to make changes but I am not sure if I would be able to. Someone mentioned that new teachers are not listened to and that is evident in my school. The English department is the worst. Two teachers pretty much try to control the others and they even fight over what books can be read at what times. I think that it all stems from the administration not being strong. Maybe the whole school just needs a hardcore team-building activity week in the summer to help them trust each other. That is the key to good relationships in the school and the classroom - trust.

classroom assessment resources

Hi everyone,

Thanks to everyone who posted about Tensions & Triumphs. A few of you still haven't posted, so if you can do that as soon as possible, it would be much appreciated. I know you're all in a time crunch with portfolios and finishing up action research papers. Here's what I propose we do for March:

Classroom assessment was one of the hot topics many of you were concerned about. NCTE's website, www.ncte.org, has a lot of article links about classroom management, especially connected with authentic writing tasks. If you get on the NCTE website and click on the menu at the right on "Classroom assessment," a large number of items come up. There are seven that I see as especially useful, broken out into three different categories: Teaching Strategies, Professional Readings, and Related Resources. How about if everyone reads all seven (they're short, I promise) and then we talk online about how these articles' ideas contribute to our understandings of what we'd like our classroom assessment to look like? Here are the article link titles to click on:

Under Teaching Strategies: The Learning Response Log: An Assessment Tool; Exhibitions of Mastery: The Tail that Wags the Dog; Teaching in a World Focused on Testing

Under Professional Readings: Suggestions for Responding to the Dilemma of Grading Students' Writing; Reading the Data: Making Supportable Claims from Classroom Assessment; Improving Learning through Classroom Assessment

Under Related Resources: Framing Statements on Assessment

I'll post on the classroom assessment issue before spring break. If everyone can post by March 31st, that would be fabulous.

Meanwhile, I'm also thinking ahead to April. After reading the first set of postings, I have two titles to propose-- one I've read, one I haven't but have always wanted to read. The one I've read is Letters to a New Teacher by Jim Burke. It addresses some of the issues people posted about, and it's a secondary language arts focus. The other title is The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer. I haven't read this one, but from what I know of it, it's not geared towards a specific subject or grade level but rather towards helping teachers hang onto their larger vision of why they want to teach and how to do so in the face of standardized testing pressures. Which would you like to read? Let's decide by March 10th or so in order to have time to order copies.

Or, if you have another title you think we should read, post it on the blog so we can discuss it!

...... (Brandy)

Overall, I think my action research was a success. For six weeks, I provided a different creative writing prompt at the beginning of each class period. Students were given a length requirement (a half of a page) and a time limit (10 minutes) to complete the assignment. I ended up changing a few things throughout the process. Initially, I wanted to collect data from all three of my ninth grade classes, but soon realized that would be overwhelming. I then decided to focus only on my smallest class of 25 students. I had all three classes complete the writing prompts, but only reflected on and followed the progress of one. Overall, my goal was to determine whether or not daily writing would improve students’ writing abilities and confidence. Initially, I got exactly what I expected, a lot of complaining and struggling to meet the length requirement. Eventually, students got into the habit of entering class and writing. Once they realized it was not an option, they were able to focus entirely on writing. By the end of the six weeks, I saw major improvements. I had a few students who refused to write anything for the first week or two, and by the end were responding to every prompt. Students’ writing improved as well as the ability to ignore length requirements and allow words to flow onto paper. This is something I would definitely use in my classroom. It allows students to settle down as soon as they enter the classroom and also eases their anxieties about writing assignments.

Like Lauren, my PDS experience was far from ideal, but I learned a lot from it. You could throw me into a classroom of rabid, immature, non-stop talking ninth graders, and I would look at you and ask, “Is this all you’ve got?” Morgantown High School is an incredible school that received a silver medal in U.S. News and World Report Magazine’s annual list of the best schools in the country. Okay, I’ll stop bragging now, but the school is great and so are the faculty and administrators. I think I was just placed in the classroom of the least motivated teacher imaginable. My biggest complaint about my entire internship is that my host teacher was basically absent during it – not literally, but she provided no feedback whatsoever. She gave me free reign over everything and whenever I asked for suggestions, she simply stated, “Just do whatever you like.” It allowed me to take over everything, but at the same time it would have been nice to have some help. I mean she was supposed to be mentoring me after all.

I have very few negative things to say about my PDS. The faculty is exceptional and the school is very well-maintained considering the large number of students. The community is involved, and most teachers display leadership in and out of the classroom. I would like to focus on my host teacher’s behaviors and attitude, because I am sure there are other teachers like her in the school. She has eleven years of teaching experience but appears to have completely lost all passion for teaching. During my first week of observation, I noticed a complete lack of classroom management. This bothered me because it is my weakest point as a teacher, and had to observe other teachers in the school to witness appropriate methods. The school operates on block scheduling and teachers are encouraged to teach “bell to bell.” She rarely did. She had students listen to stories on CD instead of reading them aloud. She would also give students free time at the end of almost every period to “work on something,” and would then turn her back to her students and use her computer. She was completely unorganized and lost students’ work. Hmm…so many negative habits to choose from, but putting it simply, she was lazy. Students basically manipulated her and she couldn’t even realize it, or maybe she could, but just no longer cares. I did learn one thing from her and that is how to get students involved in literature. Because she has a master’s degree in literature, she is very educated on almost all genres. She assisted me with activities and ways to get students interested. It was clear that her passion was literature and not teaching. This just goes to show that the characteristic of a novice teacher we hear so much about – mixing content and pedagogy – is important.

I think the best way to change this type of problem is to focus on my own passion for teaching. When teachers see others going above and beyond, they have two choices. They can fall behind and look bad, or they can put in a little extra effort as well. It’s as if some teachers feel stuck in a career that they don’t enjoy, so they possess a negative attitude instead of utilizing the skills and knowledge they have about effective teaching. Just because you hate your job, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go all out.

New teacher input-really? (Ashley)

I am going to begin this post and may add on as I go haha...yay for being able to edit!
I will respond to the book and also to the AR question...
I started reading this book and was suprised how fast it went-a really quick read. I liked hearing other new teachers talk about things I was worried about too as a new almost-teacher. Sometimes it feels like everyone else has it together but me! But what I didn't like about this book was that it was SO elementary centered! As a secondary teacher, I have so many different situations and problems than these teachers did. I could take advice about being new to a school and about job searching, but I still felt very different than these teachers. I feel like this program as a whole is VERY elementary centered. Still, I could definately relate to these new teachers. It's also great, in my opinion, that some of these teachers took time off for their families. It was refreshing to hear that sometimes it's ok to work on your personal life and come back to teaching. That makes it a lot less overwhelming for me.

As for my AR, I would say it went pretty well. It was a challenge because I had to scale it down to 6th grade when it was made for 8th grade. May not sound like a big difference, but it was! I had to work with my teacher to implement skills that normally would not be taught for 4 or 5 months. She very graciously worked with me. My project was implementing rubrics and letting students help create rubrics to try to increase their writing skills and also increase their interest. Did it work? Yes, in that they became more skilled and they enjoyed getting to help make the rubric. Do I feel like it was an education-changing experience in their lives? No, probably not. I say this because I had to be very technical and really walk them along the writing process-it was very watered down. If the students had been older I think more of their creativity and their opinions would have been in the writing and it would have been more successful. Still, I am happy that it was able to be implemented in a real-life classroom and that I did a project that focused on my students and how they felt about assessment. I was letting them help take charge of their success and that was the most important thing, in my opinion.

When I read this book I was lucky to have positive experiences from my home PDS in the back of my mind. I would definately take a job at my PDS. It is a strict school with a lot of structure, but the teachers are all very involved. There is a lot of team teaching. The principal is for the most part a good listener and is definately an advocate for her teachers.

If I had to change something about my PDS it would be that I don't think they value new teacher input. The school values learning new skills and always is improving technology, but I was never sought after as a resource of new advice. If I taught there I would have to follow the lead of the teachers in the book and very gradually make changes. There are many older experienced teachers and sometimes they get stuck in a rut of thinking their way is the "only" way of teaching. I would like to gradually make change, but it would have to be gradual.

Ok, that is all unless I think of more! Good book!

When it rains it pours?

I have a hard time getting past the fact that my action research failed. Although the class I ultimately ended up with was much different from what I had originally expected, I cannot move past the idea that all that work, all that time spent planning, was for nothing. Sure, I now know how to implement an action research study but what good is it if I’m bitter about the whole process?

My student teaching was a far-from-pleasant experience but I’ll try to stay positive. You people are nice and I like you, I wouldn’t want to scare you away with my negative energy.

My action research focused on improving student writing through creating skilled peer reviewers. Students created check lists that were to guide them while reading a partners paper. Mini lessons were conducted on “what makes good writing?” and “editor’s marks” among other things requested by the students. The problem was the seventh grade students hadn’t had enough experience writing to feel comfortable commenting on someone else’s work. Many expressed concerns on not wanting to hurt peoples’ feelings and how they would rather talk about their writing than read and write comments on a partner’s. Perhaps schools could use this research as encouragement for assigning more writing in the classroom. Students were self conscience about their writing. School-wide initiatives were passed in my PDS that enforced writing across the curriculum, but I rarely saw the teachers implementing this. How can something that is so important to a students education (and I’m not just saying this because I love English) be ignored by teachers?

Heather, I also noticed a lot of apathy from the teachers at my PDS. Clubs and after school programs are few and far in between unless they involve a football or pom poms. Upon a proposal for a day were parents and other community members could come to the school to see everything that goes on and all the hard work of teachers and students (a kind of “showcase day”) teachers responded with looks of disgust. “How late will we have to stay?” “When would we have time to plan for this?” The idea was eventually dropped, even after the other interns and I asked to organize the whole thing.

It scares me that I may be like that one day. What can we do to keep the morale going, especially when met with reluctance to do anything extra from other faculty?

--Lauren

Not storming the castle (Heather)

For my action research, I used journaling to help students improve on their writing, especially in the areas of making connections, elaborating and expanding on their ideas, and writing conventions. In my school, I don’t know of any teachers that use journals within their classrooms. I think that journaling opens the door to critical thinking and student expression. From my experiences, most of the teachers I have observed focus more on memorize-recall activities. Instead of giving students worksheets that have them remember a character’s name, the setting of the story, or the events taking place, teachers at my school could use journals to get students to explore an issue, a theme, or a moral message translated through literature. I think this approach to teaching literature has more relevance in light of real world application. In addition, this strategy gives students a chance to relate to what their reading, reflect on their own experiences, and share their perspectives with one another. It sparks discussion, which helps students learn to effectively communicate in front of others. I think my project has potential to inspire teachers at my PDS to engage their students in more writing activities; however, I am skeptical that they will actually change their methods of instruction. If majority of the teachers in the school integrate daily writing, especially across the curriculum, students might develop better writing skills, and possibly more positive attitudes.
If I were to take a position at my school, I think I would set the precedent for a more student-centered classroom. I am not criticizing the teachers and their way of teaching; however, I feel that they could try to make learning more interactive. One problem that persists at my school is that most teachers do not differentiate their instruction very often. In most classrooms, teachers lecture and then give students an assignment. Students become very bored and uninterested with the predictability of the school day. I would try new strategies, like readers theatre, role playing, literature circles (which I did during my internship), writing portfolios, student projects that use multimedia, web quests, group and partner work, etc. I think establishing somewhat of a routine, especially with freshman, can be advantageous, but it really drains students. A way to keep their attention is to surprise them daily with new ways of learning. Another problem I was dissatisfied with is teacher apathy. Teachers at my school seem to have lost their passion for the profession. In turn, they spend the least amount of time on their classrooms. One teacher in particular, never takes a single assignment home to grade and does her lesson plans right before school begins. I think I could encourage teachers by sharing new ideas with them, getting involved myself and pushing for more professional development opportunities. I could even ask them for advice and then share my side. In order for teachers to see me as a credible individual, they need to respect me. I think this only comes with time and personal interaction. One of the last things I would want to change about my school is the way the regular education and special education teachers collaborate. In my collaborative classes, the special educator did not assist me with teaching in any way. Some of the special education teachers do not show up for classes. It is critical that both teachers work together to plan (which is challenging, but doable), assess, and teach their mutual students. In an ideal world, teachers would get extra time to do these things, but I do not think it will happen anytime soon. A way I could improve co-teaching is to get my lesson plans to the other teacher as I did during my internship. In general, I could consult with him/her for everything that goes on within a particular class. I could tell them my expectations up front and ask them what they expect of me in turn. The biggest flaw I see with co-teaching is a lack of communication between the two teachers, which can easily be resolved through conversation.

not storming the castle

There are so many issues I could respond to from this book, and I hope that all of you feel the same way. Keeping in mind our discussion a few weeks ago when we brainstormed potential reading topics for the semester, what strikes me in rereading Tensions & Triumphs is Erin's situation. In many ways it parallels some of the frustrations several of you expressed about your internship settings. A big difference, though, is that Erin chose her position, even though in retrospect she realized that she had been feeling misgivings during the job interview. You didn't seek out your particular PDS placements.

Still, no matter how amazing the schools you interview for positions in appear to be during the job hunt, there are going to be underlying difficult situations you'll all have to cope with. It's the nature of the beast. No matter how carefully you set your "political radar," you're not going to pick up on everything. You can't until you're actually in the school on a daily basis. By then, you need to decide how you're going to cope. That's where I find Tensions & Triumphs most useful, because it gives specific ways you can help yourselves as new teachers and specific ways other teachers and administrators can help.

Chapter 7 is key for me, especially at the end when it says, "New teachers can open doors to dialogue and can contribute to creating positive experiences for themselves and others. We don't recommend storming the gates, but we do know that, through quiet example that becomes respectfully louder and louder, new teachers can effect change from their very first days in the classroom." I love that concept of opening dialogue and working in small ways that then expand out into larger implications, potentially for the entire school. I think there are certain situations where you just plain need to get out of the school to save your sanity-- I've been in one of those situations, and it's not pretty. Most of the time, though, you create the environment you really want to teach in through, for lack of a better word, infiltration. Teachers listen to insiders. They take them seriously. If you're teaching in the best ways you know how (without beating yourself up for not being perfect-- see Chapter 5 and the being perfect disease) and working hard to keep growing professionally, other teachers notice. I think it's significant that several of the authors of this book were voted teacher of the year in their buildings. I'm sure they didn't campaign for that, and I'm sure they didn't bust into department meetings saying, "You guys are all wrong-- here, let me fix you." Change happens gradually, and it happens when you're part of a community that values and trusts you.

Here's something to think about and possibly respond to: All of you are getting ready to write up the results of your action research and present them in April. How might your action research effect change in teaching within your school placements? Also, if you were hired at your PDS, how might you effect changes that would counteract some of the things several of you were unhappy with during your internships? Naming problems is important; now take the next step, at least hypothetically.

One other logistical note: I put all of you as authors for this blog. I think what will be most helpful as we move through this semester is for everyone to post brief (300-500 word) responses to the reading and then we can respond to one another's comments and let thinking branch off as it wants to. I don't want this to be a "Dr. Benson is the only one posing scenarios and questions" situation. Since we aren't going to be able to meet face to face regularly, it seems like responses and responses to the responses is a way to get discussion going.